Hybrid quantum devices expand the tools and techniques available for quantum sensing in various fields. Here, we experimentally demonstrate quantum sensing of the steady-state magnonpopulation in a magnetostatic mode of a ferrimagnetic crystal. Dispersively coupling the magnetostatic mode to a superconducting qubit allows the detection of magnons using Ramsey interferometry with a sensitivity on the order of 10−3 magnons/Hz−−−√. The protocol is based on dissipation as dephasing via fluctuations in the magnetostatic mode reduces the qubit coherence proportionally to the number of magnons.
The recent development of hybrid systems based on superconducting circuits has opened up the possibility of engineering sensors of quanta of different degrees of freedom. Quantum magnonics,which aims to control and read out quanta of collective spin excitations in magnetically-ordered systems, furthermore provides unique opportunities for advances in both the study of magnetism and the development of quantum technologies. Using a superconducting qubit as a quantum sensor, we report the detection of a single magnon in a millimeter-sized ferromagnetic crystal with a quantum efficiency of up to~0.71. The detection is based on the entanglement between a magnetostatic mode and the qubit, followed by a single-shot measurement of the qubit state. This proof-of-principle experiment establishes the single-photon detector counterpart for magnonics.
Engineered quantum systems enabling novel capabilities for communication, computation, and sensing have blossomed in the last decade. Architectures benefiting from combining distinctand complementary physical quantum systems have emerged as promising platforms for developing quantum technologies. A new class of hybrid quantum systems based on collective spin excitations in ferromagnetic materials has led to the diverse set of experimental platforms which are outlined in this review article. More specifically, the coherent interaction between microwave cavity modes and collective spin-wave modes is presented as the backbone of the development of more complex hybrid quantum systems. Indeed, quanta of excitation of the spin-wave modes, called magnons, can also interact coherently with optical photons, phonons, and superconducting qubits in the fields of cavity optomagnonics, cavity magnomechanics, and quantum magnonics, respectively. Notably, quantum magnonics provides a promising platform for performing quantum optics experiments in magnetically-ordered solid-state systems. Applications of hybrid quantum systems based on magnonics for quantum information processing and quantum sensing are also outlined briefly.
The techniques of microwave quantum optics are applied to collective spin excitations in a macroscopic sphere of ferromagnetic insulator. We demonstrate, in the single-magnon limit,strong coupling between a magnetostatic mode in the sphere and a microwave cavity mode. Moreover, we introduce a superconducting qubit in the cavity and couple the qubit with the magnon excitation via the virtual photon excitation. We observe the magnon-vacuum-induced Rabi splitting. The hybrid quantum system enables generation and characterization of non-classical quantum states of magnons.
Rigidity of an ordered phase in condensed matter results in collective excitation modes spatially extending in macroscopic dimensions. Magnon is a quantum of an elementary excitationin the ordered spin system, such as ferromagnet. Being low dissipative, dynamics of magnons in ferromagnetic insulators has been extensively studied and widely applied for decades in the contexts of ferromagnetic resonance, and more recently of Bose-Einstein condensation as well as spintronics. Moreover, towards hybrid systems for quantum memories and transducers, coupling of magnons and microwave photons in a resonator have been investigated. However, quantum-state manipulation at the single-magnon level has remained elusive because of the lack of anharmonic element in the system. Here we demonstrate coherent coupling between a magnon excitation in a millimetre-sized ferromagnetic sphere and a superconducting qubit, where the interaction is mediated by the virtual photon excitation in a microwave cavity. We obtain the coupling strength far exceeding the damping rates, thus bringing the hybrid system into the strong coupling regime. Furthermore, we find a tunable magnon-qubit coupling scheme utilising a parametric drive with a microwave. Our approach provides a versatile tool for quantum control and measurement of the magnon excitations and thus opens a new discipline of quantum magnonics.
We demonstrate large normal splitting between a magnetostatic mode (the Kittel mode) in a ferromagnetic sphere of yttrium iron garnet and a microwave cavity mode. Strong coupling isachieved in the quantum regime where the average numbers of thermally and externally excited magnons and photons are less than one. We also confirm that the coupling strength is proportional to the square root of the number of spins. Non-monotonous temperature dependence of the Kittel-mode linewidth is observed below 1 K and is attributed to the dissipation due to the coupling with a bath of two-level systems.